Inana/Ishtar

The practice of a king appointing his daughter as the High Priestess and consort of an important male deity arose independently in the Ancient Near East and Egypt. In Mesopotamia, the prime example of such an appointee was the EN-priestess of Nanna (EPN), spouse of the moon-god Nanna/Sin at Ur; in Egypt, its most important embodiment was the God's Wife of Amun (GWA), consort of the creator-god Amun(-Re) at Thebes. Both institutions operated – with interruptions and periods of uncertainty – for about a millennium (Ur, ca. 2288-1104 BCE; Thebes, ca. 1552-525 BCE). The office of EPN began strongly, with a peak period that lasted ca. 525 years, whereas the GWA's heyday came at the end of its trajectory and lasted only half as long (ca. 265 years). In both cases, the incumbents were powerful royal figures who served as spiritual and economic leaders of their communities. The cultic roles of the EPN and GWA were similar, and the "god's wife" role of both has attracted similar academic controversies over their sexual, marital and maternal status. This paper, which provides the first systematic comparison of the two institutions, focuses on comparing the two offices in their respective periods of peak strength. The analysis reveals that the High Priestesses were typically political appointments made in turbulent times, often to help the king secure control over a remote region and/or rival institution. As spiritual leaders, the incumbents were often instrumental in integrating distinct cultural or ethnic groups within their respective countries, thereby promoting the royal agenda of national unity. Despite social and political uncertainties, many of the High Priestesses managed long incumbencies (EPN typically 30-40 yrs, GWA 40-65 yrs), their tenures thereby spanning multiple kings and often dynasties as well (e.g., Enanatuma of Isin served long into the succeeding dynasty of Isin's traditional enemy, Larsa). Both offices were collaborative institutions in which the incumbent was potentially assisted by a novice/heiress and perhaps also a retiree; for the GWAs in particular, the resulting "college" often required long-term collaboration between women of different ethnicities (possibly 25+ years for the Libyan/Nubian changeover, and probably 2-15 years for the Nubian/Saite one). For both types of High Priestess, the long incumbencies and the collaborative nature of their institutions combined to provide stability and continuity in their respective countries.

An ancient Sumerian proverb may be read as “good fortune [is embedded in] organisation and wisdom.” The present centennial survey is solely about organizing the last one hundred years of scholarship for a Sumerian afterlife myth named “Inanna’s Descent to the Netherworld.” The initial discovery of artifacts with snippets of the myth can be dated to as early as 1889. English translations of the myth emerged around 1920 and were followed by numerous archaeological expeditions and subsequent translation efforts. Such efforts, by many scholars and institutions, resulted in an authoritative 2001 version of the myth published by the University of Oxford via the Electronic Text Corpus of Sumerian Literature (ETCSL). The 2001 version, titled “Inana’s descent to the nether world” is 412 lines long and utilizes over fifty cuneiform artifacts (sources). The impact of this work has been mainstream and interdisciplinary interest in Inanna, the myth, and her role in antiquity. However, the technical nature of studying ancient Sumer may alienate a broader audience. The survey contained herein attempts to organize and explain the key people, concepts, events, and institutions involved with the discovery of “Inanna’s Descent.” Non-technical readers can expect to learn how and why we arrived at the likely complete translation we have today. Light background information and a chronology of scholarly work are followed by a brief discussion on promising areas of further research. The appendix contains a comprehensive catalog of referenced artifact data.

For Huey

CONTENTS

Figures
Tables
Introduction
Background
Scholarship Chronology
    Discovery and Initial Publication (1889-1919)
    More Artifacts and Assignments (1920-1934)
    Kramer’s First Wave (1935-1951)
    New Artifacts and Commentary (1952-1973)
    The First Semi-Complete Translation (1974-1996)
    The Digital Age (1997-2006)
    Current Scholarship (2007-2019)
The Future of ID (2020 and Beyond)
Conclusion
Appendix A: Artifacts Table and Visualizations
Appendix B: All Artifact Data
Appendix C: Translations of “Inanna’s Descent”
Bibliography

FIGURES

Figure 1.1. Sumer in Mesopotamia
Figure 1.2. Cylinder Seal VA 243
Figure 1.3. Mask of Warka
Figure 1.4. Warka Vase
Figure 1.5. Inanna’s Family Tree
Figure 1.6. Table illustrating the simplification of cuneiform signs
Figure 1.7. Artifact terminology table
Figure 1.8. Three of the ‘big five’ scholars of ID
Figure 2.1. Artifact CBS 9800
Figure 2.2. Artifact YPM BC 018686 (formerly YBC 4621)
Figure 2.3. Artifact UET VI 9 (6/1 9)
Figure 2.4. Sladek’s published artifacts

TABLES

Table 1.1. Artifact waterfall view of cuneiform sources for “Inanna’s Descent” (abridged)
Table 2.1. Detail artifact table for “Inanna’s Descent”
Table 2.2. Artifact waterfall view of cuneiform sources for “Inanna’s Descent” (full)
Table 3.1. Top translation publications of “Inanna’s Descent” (1900-2019)

The planet Venus has been linked to more than one deity in the Near East, starting at least from the IV millennium B.C. onwards. The Sumerians and most of the ancient Semitic peoples possessed a Venus deity. It turns out that all these deities were interrelated and underwent, during the course of the time, a process of fusion and intermingling of the respective characteristics. Over the time, this led to the birth of the Greek goddess Aphrodite.

The Holy Grail is thought to be the cup Jesus drank from at the Last Supper, but this is just one of a number of metaphors for what is the greatest mystery of the last 800 years. The most significant of the Grail romances is "Parzival," written between 1195 and 1216. By examining the unique symbolism in this work by Wolfram von Eschenbach, one may come to a solution of the mystery of the Grail. It is the opinion of the author that the secret veiled behind the symbolism is related to an astronomical phenomenon involving the Divine Ratio and mystically connected to the genesis of life on Earth. This may be the first time this particular solution to the mystery of the Grail has ever been published. Wolfram von Eschenbach: Le Secret du Saint Graal 2 Douglas J. Meyer, B.A. Résumé On nomme « Saint Graal » la coupe d'où Jésus a bu lors de la dernière Cène, mais il ne s'agit là que d'une parmi les nombreuses métaphores se référant au plus grand mystère des huit-cents dernières années. Le roman du Graal le plus important est «Parzival», écrit par Wolfram von Eschenbach entre 1195 et 1216. Douglas J. Meyer pense qu'en examinant l'extraordinaire symbolisme contenu dans cette oeuvre, nous pouvons parvenir à une solution du mystère du Graal, et que le secret voilé derrière ce symbolisme se réfère à un phénomène astronomique conforme à la Divine Proportion et relié mystiquement à l'apparition de la Vie sur la Terre. C'est sans doute la première fois que cette explication particulière du mystère du Graal est publiée.

This study deals with the development of the Mesopotamian religions with great analytical clarity. Dr. Bott analyses this development from the point of view of its conditionality by political power structures and its manifold transformations through the millennia. Unfortunately, both aspects are not self-evident in academic religious studies.
Firstly, religion is too often reduced to the level of spiritual ideas in an euphemistic way, overlooking the extent to which these ideas are conditioned by concrete political interests. Secondly, it is notoriously overlooked or suppressed that and in what way male deities achieved their dominance in the various theologies, namely by only gradually and by no means effortlessly overcoming the dominance of female deities in the prehistoric and early historical theologies.

Initially written in Greek and published in the Greek monthly ‘Trito Mati’ – ‘Third Eye’ (February 1992), before my adhesion to Islam, under author’s name ‘Cosmas Megalommatis’, successively translated by me in French and published in France, and more recently translated in 1999 in English and published in various media.

At this point, I want to thank the translator for this excellent English translation. My adhesion to Islam did not make me change my approach and opinion in anything related to this subject as developed in this text.

Published in the Origin of Nations magazine, vol.3, no.3. (1999): pages 2-3, 12-20 and online:
http://www.originofnations.org/books,%20papers/Elizabeth%20II.pdf

The original Greek text can be found here:
https://www.academia.edu/49102838/Απόγονοι_των_Ισραηλιτών_οι_Βρεταννοί_

In the epic about Innana´s Descent to the Netherworld the ancient technique of myth-condensation gives clues of how the narrated deed of Innana was evaluated in Old Babylonian times. This technique was used to correlate the myth INNANA BRINGS THE NETHERWORLD’S INSTRUMENTS OF POWER TO EARTH with the myth INNANA BRINGS THE HOUSE OF HEAVEN TO EARTH, both celebrating the goddess as bringing most essential elements of life from different cosmic regions and from their powerful rulers to earth. This hermeneutic key fundamentally changes our understanding of the emic ancient perspective on Innana in Old Babylonian times. Innana must die in order to bring the precious Instruments of Power of the netherworld to the Earth and more precisely to her temple. Against this background it is understandable why this myth enjoyed wide popularity. From the perspective of the ancients, both the acquisition of the divine Instruments of Power and of the House of Heaven represent essential heroic deeds for the well-being of Sumer and Akkad.

The thesis "Evenisation - The Sumer-Akkadian woman figure contra women oppression in monotheistic literature" is a recently made (September 2020) translation from the Swedish original from 2009.

"Evenisation," borrowed from the biblical Eve, can be defined as the long-developed patriarchal hegemony describing women as inferior, sexually debased, and the patriarchate's urge for domesticated, passive, and subdued female figures under the total control of men.

This thesis is a genealogy of women's oppression, its causes, implementations, and emphasizing women's evolutionary sexual ability as exposed in the earliest civilizations. The focus is on the Mesopotamian prepatriarchal civilizations and the paradigm shift that led to male domination, creating three female archetypes: Lilith, Eve, and Virgin Mary and the sexual objectification of women.

This lecture for the Netherlands Institute in Turkey (Istanbul) was held online on October 15, 2020. Abstract: We all love a good story. The urge to hear stories and recount them to others is part of our DNA. In every period of history, wherever humans lived, stories spread from village to village, and eventually from culture to culture. Do religious practices travel too? Unlike stories, religious practices tend to remain unchanged from generation upon generation. The risk of angering the deity by not worshipping it precisely as dictated by tradition is too great. Due to this conservative nature, religions are generally not very open to outward influences. At the same time, research has shown that many religious practices throughout the world exhibit similar features. In areas where we see close cultural contacts, borrowing or influence in fact become plausible explanations for religious parallels. This is certainly the case for the parallels we see between the religious practices of ancient Mediterranean and Near Eastern cultures in the Late Bronze and Iron Ages. In this lecture, the striking parallels between the cults of the Mesopotamian goddess Ištar and the Anatolian Mother goddess will be explored as an example case study. The priests of these goddesses performed ecstatic rituals and were conceived of as neither men nor women. Did the Anatolian cult borrow from the older Mesopotamian cult? And if yes, how, and why? Taking examples from the case study, I explore the challenges in making a convincing case for religious borrowings between ancient Mediterranean cultures, while at the same time offering a tentative model for doing so.